Posts Tagged ‘Pew Research Center’
How is your State governed? By army, a strong leader, experts, elite classes or the people…
Posted by: adonis49 on: April 2, 2018
Que pensent les gens de la gouvernance de leur pays par l’armée, un leader fort, des experts, le peuple ou des élus ? (Art.511) A study and book review
(Ces statistiques de “preference” ne valent pas grand chose. Il faudrait avoir un petit entretien avec la peronne pour connaitre que son opinion n’est pas le meme que sa reponse, et meme contraire)
Bakhos Baalbaki, Feb 18, 2018
Enquête dans 38 pays du monde, dont le Liban, la France, l’Allemagne, la Suède, le Canada, le Royaume-Uni, l’Italie, la Tunisie, la Turquie, Israël, la Russie, l’Australie et les Etats-Unis.
Le Pew Research Center
Elles peuvent susciter la polémique, surtout quand elles abordent des sujets sensibles comme la religion, jamais l’indifférence ou le désintérêt. Les études du Pew Research Center sont toujours attendues.
Ce think tank américain basé à Washington est devenu en moins d’une quinzaine d’années une référence internationale. Ses publications concernent la politique et la législation américaines, mais aussi les tendances politiques, sociales et démographiques dans le monde.
Celle du mois d’octobre s’intéresse à l’évaluation des systèmes de gouvernance par les populations de 38 pays. Au total, 41,953 personnes ont été interrogées. Comme nous sommes la veille de nouvelles élections législatives au Liban, il serait utile de revenir sur les chiffres.
Dans chaque pays, on a demandé aux gens si les systèmes de gouvernement suivants seraient pour eux une « très mauvaise / plutôt mauvaise / plutôt bonne / très bonne » manière de gouverner leur pays : la démocratie représentative, la démocratie directe, un régime d’experts, un régime de dirigeant fort et un régime militaire.
Deux questions supplémentaires ont été posées aux gens pour savoir s’ils font confiance au gouvernement national et s’ils sont satisfaits de leur démocratie.
Démocratie représentative : « un régime démocratique dans lequel des représentants élus par les citoyens décident des lois »
– Dans tous les pays interrogés, sans exception, la majorité des gens pensent que la démocratie représentative est une bonne manière de gouverner leur pays.
Dans 31 pays sur 38, on est plus de 2/3 à le croire. Et même dans 26 pays, 3/4 des gens le pensent.
– On retrouve les populations les plus enthousiastes pour la démocratie représentative dans les pays occidentaux (74-92%), sans surprise.
Le record est détenu par les Suédois (92%), suivis de près par les Allemands (90%). C’est dans ces pays qu’on trouve le taux le plus faible de mauvaise opinion pour cette gestion politique de la vie collective (moins de 10%).
– A l’inverse, on retrouve les populations les moins enthousiastes pour la démocratie représentative dans les pays en développement. Le triste record est détenu par les Tunisiens, ex aequo avec les Colombiens. Ils ne sont que 53% à penser que la démocratie représentative est un bon système de gouvernement, 39% d’entre eux pensent même que c’est un mauvais système.
– En Europe du Nord (Suède, Allemagne), ainsi que dans les pays anglosaxons (Royaume Uni, Etats-Unis, Canada, Australie), on croit un peu plus que dans les pays d’Europe du Sud (Italie, Grèce, Espagne) à la démocratie représentative, respectivement, 90-92%, 84-88% et 74-79%.
– Avec 81% de bonnes opinions, la France se situe entre les deux groupes.
Toutefois, jusqu’à 18% des Français pensent que la démocratie représentative est un mauvais système. C’est presque le même profil que les voisins-ennemis, les Grecs (78% et 20%) et les Turcs (80% et 16%).
Ce n’est pas très glorieux ni pour cette grande démocratie, ni pour le berceau de la démocratie, ni pour ces candidats pour entrer dans le bastion démocratique européen.
Les chiffres français s’expliquent aisément par la présence ancrée dans l’échiquier politique des tendances extrêmes, droite et gauche. De Marine Le Pen à Jean-Luc Mélenchon, nombreux sont ceux qui s’estiment mal représenter par la démocratie représentative.
– Les Libanais s’en sortent avec des scores très honorables : ils sont à 85% à croire que la démocratie représentative est un bon système de gouvernement et seulement 14% à penser le contraire.
On fait mieux que les Français pardi! Les Libanais pensent comme les Anglosaxons (Anglais, Américains, Canadiens et Australiens) plutôt que comme les Méditerranéens des deux rives (Italiens, Espagnols, Grecs, Tunisiens). (C’est qu’ils n’ont pas eu a vivre avec un system pareil et l’experimenter. Les systems politiques au Liban etaient et sont toujours mauvaise. Un system anomie: les deputes control tous les business au Liban)
Les Libanais ont exactement le même profil que les Ghanéens sur ce point, et surprise, pratiquement la même façon de penser de la « démocratie représentative » que les Israéliens (87% la considèrent « bonne » et 11% « mauvaise »).
Démocratie directe : « un régime démocratique où les citoyens, et non des représentants élus, votent directement sur les principales questions nationales afin de décider des lois »
(Mais on n’a plus des City-States comme durant l’ Antiquite’. Meme le digital ne peut appliquer un tel system. Ceux qui repondent favorable pense en abstraction. Elle peut s’appliquer aux minucipalites)
– L’adhésion de l’écrasante majorité des peuples interrogés à la « démocratie directe » est certaine. Dans 36 pays sur 38, plus de la moitié de la population trouve que ce système aussi constitue une bonne manière de gouverner.
– Seuls les Tunisiens et les Jordaniens pensent que c’est une mauvaise manière (57 et 55%).
– En tête des populations les plus enthousiastes se trouvent les Turcs et les Libanais figurez-vous (84 et 83%).
Déçus par nos représentants, déçus par nos leaders, déçus par nos lois électorales, nous autres Libanais croyons que la planche de salut serait de retourner à la source de tout pouvoir politique, le peuple.
Sauf que ce qui marche pour la Suisse de l’Occident, ne fonctionnera pas forcément dans la Suisse de l’Orient, pour deux raisons très simples: le raisonnement communautaire et l’élan de domination présents dans toutes les communautés et les partis politiques libanais.
– Les Français et les Allemands manifestent beaucoup plus d’intérêt pour la « démocratie directe » (tous deux à 74%), que les Suédois et les Néerlandais (57 et 55%), qui la trouvent « mauvaise » à hauteur de 41 et de 44%.
– Dans tous les cas de figure, cette adhésion mondiale est nettement moins importante que pour la « démocratie représentative », à quelques exceptions (Russie, Turquie, Mexique, Colombie, Chili).
« Le gouvernement du peuple, par le peuple, pour le peuple », ah, tout le monde voudrait mettre en œuvre la formule d’Abraham Lincoln, le 16e président des Etats-Unis, sauf que ce n’est pas si simple, il faut que le régime démocratique qui en découle fonctionne et ne soit pas paralysé.
Et c’est bien cela qui explique en grande partie la différence d’adhésion des populations aux deux types de démocratie.
Pays dirigé par des experts : « des experts, et non des représentants élus, décident en fonction de ce qu’ils pensent être le mieux pour le pays »
– L’idée a de quoi séduire en théorie, sauf qu’à partir de là, le temps se gâtent et les résultats surprennent. Mais enfin, qui peut douter un instant que des technocrates, pardon, des experts, feront des miracles et des merveilles? Eh bien, la majorité des gens, au moins dans les démocraties occidentales! Si le monde est dans un sale état, c’est justement à cause de tous ces experts qui succèdent à la cour des politiciens depuis des décennies.
– En France, Allemagne, Suède, Royaume Uni, Etats-Unis, Canada et Australie, plus de la moitié de la population pense qu’un pays dirigé par des experts constituent une mauvaise manière de gouverner (53-63%).
– Devinez maintenant quel est le peuple qui pense exactement le contraire? Eh bien, nous autres Libanaiset à 70% svp, le record mondial, au moins parmi les 38 pays interrogés! Bon, il faut reconnaître que les politiciens libanais laissent tellement à désirer, que les pauvres citoyens croient forcément à la panacée des experts !
– Les Hongrois, les Vietnamiens, les Nigériens et les Russes eux aussi, croient dans l’expertise des experts.
– Dans les pays occidentaux, le soutien à la technocratie est plus grande chez les moins de 30 ans que parmi les plus de 50 ans.
Pays dirigé par un dirigeant fort : « un régime dans lequel un dirigeant fort peut prendre des décisions sans interférence du Parlement ou du pouvoir judiciaire » (Une oligarchie qui s’arrange avec cette personne “forte”)
– Tout le monde voudrait avoir un dirigeant fort. Mais là il est question d’un régime où le dirigeant du pays aurait le pouvoir absolu de prendre des décisions importantes indépendamment des pouvoirs exécutif, législatif et judiciaires. Bienvenue dans l’autocratie. (Et la monarchie absolue)
– Sans surprise, ce sont les Allemands qui rejettent le plus massivement une telle configuration politique. A 93%, ils trouvent qu’elle constitue une mauvaise manière de gouverner. Ils sont rejoints par les Suédois, les Néerlandais, les Français et les Grecs. (Ce n’etait pas le cas pour les Allemands jusqu’a la fin de WWII)
– Et qui arrive en 6e position svp? Nous autres Libanais!
Nous pensons à 84% que le régime d’un leader fort incontrôlable, constitue une « mauvaise » gouvernance, comme les Espagnols. (Il faudrait avoir un petit entretien avec la peronne pour connaitre que c’ est le contraire)
Et si on ne s’intéresse qu’à ceux qui pensent que c’est une « très mauvaise » gouvernance, les Libanais remportent la médaille de bronze, ex-aequo avec les Sénégalais (68%), l’argent va aux Suédois (70%) et l’or aux Néerlandais (73%).
Par comparaison, les Allemands et les Grecs sont à 63% à penser que c’est une très mauvaise gouvernance, les Américains sont à 55%, Canadiens 54%, Français 52%, Australiens 50%, Anglais 45%, Israéliens 36%, Japonais 29% et les Russes seulement à 13%.
– Les plus enthousiastes pour le régime autocratique sont les Indiens, les Indonésiens et les Philippins, trois populations qui ont un profil comparable sur tous les paramètres, à quelques exceptions près.
Dans ces trois pays, plus de la moitié de la population (50-55%) pense qu’un « pays dirigé par un dirigeant fort » est une bonne manière de gouverner. Au pays de Rodrigo Duterte, rien d’étonnant. Au diapason, mais dans une moindre mesure, les Russes et les Turcs (48% et 40%).
Rien d’étonnant non plus aux pays de Vladimir Poutine et de Recep Tayyip Erdogan !
Par comparaison, c’est 25% pour les Israéliens, 22% pour les Américains, 14% pour les Libanais, 12% pour les Français et seulement 6% pour les Allemands, record mondial.
– Sur ce point, on observe un certain clivage dans les pays occidentaux entre les démocraties européennes et les démocraties anglosaxonnes. (On oublie les pays du Centre et de l’Est de l’ Europe?)
Alors qu’en Espagne, Grèce, France, Pays-Bas, Suède et Allemagne, on pense à hauteur de 84-93% de la population qu’un « pays dirigé par un dirigeant fort » est une mauvaise manière de gouverner, ils ne sont qu’entre 71-81% à le penser au Royaume Uni, Etats-Unis, Australie et Canada.
– Autre résultat intéressant, c’est le cas de l’Italie et du Japon, deux pays qui ont pourtant connu les dérives d’un régime autoritaire, comme l’Allemagne et l’Espagne. La majorité des deux populations rejette le régime du dirigeant fort, mais seulement à hauteur de 66 et 61%, deux exceptions parmi les grandes démocraties.
Jusqu’à 29% des Italiens et 31% des Japonais trouvent que ce régime constitue une bonne manière de gouverner.
– Dans quatre pays seulement, une majorité de la population ou presque, pense que ce type de régime constitue une bonne gouvernance: Russie, Philippines, Indonésie et Inde (48-55%), la population est pratiquement partagée dans les deux premiers.
Pays dirigé par l’armée : « un régime où l’armée dirige le pays »
(La plupart des pays qui exportent des armement: pas d’exception. Follow the money trail, the shadow government.)
– La majorité des populations du monde, de l’étude, rejette ce type de régime mais à des degrés différents (52-95%).
– C’est en Europe du Nord, qu’on trouve les scores les plus élevés contre ce type de régime. Les Allemands, les Suédois et les Néerlandais pensent massivement que ce régime constitue une mauvaise manière de gouverner (91-95%).
En Allemagne, on ne trouve que 4% des gens prêts à confier la gestion du pays à l’armée. Même profil en Grèce, et pour cause, l’histoire, dans les deux cas !
– Le régime militaire ne séduit pas les Turcs et les Israéliens qu’à hauteur de 9 et 10%.
– Quatre pays occidentaux sortent du lot et ce n’est guère flatteur : les Etats-Unis, la France, le Royaume Uni et l’Italie. Dans ces pays, entre 15 et 17% de la population pense que le régime militaire constitue une bonne manière de gouverner leur pays, comme au Japon.
– Au Liban, tout le monde sait que l’armée libanaise occupe une place importante au sein de la population, comme en témoignent les messages de sympathie et de soutien à chaque turbulence sécuritaire. (C’est recent a cause des jihhadistes. Tout au long de son court histoire, les Libanais avait peur d’une arme’ forte)
Cependant, défendre le pays est une chose, le gérer, c’est tout autre.
Ainsi, seuls 27% des Libanais pensent que le régime militaire serait une bonne manière de gouverner le Liban. C’est beaucoup, pour un pays démocratique, sauf que 73% des Libanais pensent le contraire, c’est une « mauvaise » gouvernance, et 51% de la population que ça serait même une « très mauvaise » gouvernance pour le Liban, comme en France et en Israël (48% et 56%).
– Dans cinq pays seulement, il y a au contraire, une adhésion massive pour le régime militaire (48-70%) : Nigeria, Afrique du Sud, Inde, Indonésie et Vietnam.
« Dans quelle mesure faites-vous confiance au gouvernement national pour faire ce qui est bon pour le pays ? »
– C’est parmi les pays en développement qu’on trouve les populations les plus confiantes de l’étude. Aux Philippines, Vietnam, Indonésie, Inde et Tanzanie, 80 à 89% des personnes font confiance à leur gouvernement. (Ca ne compte pas: Ils sont pour l’armee de gouverner)
– Parmi les pays occidentaux, il existe un clivage Nord/Sud. En Europe du Nord (Allemagne, Pays-Bas, Suède), en Amérique du Nord (Etats-Unis, Canada) et dans les pays anglosaxons (Royaume Uni, Australie), plus de la moitié de la population ou presque, fait confiance au gouvernement pour faire ce qui convient pour le pays (48-71%). A l’opposé, en Europe du Sud (Grèce, Italie, Espagne), seuls 13 à 26% font confiance.
– Deux pays détonnent, la France et la Russie. Les Français ne font confiance qu’à hauteur de 20%. Bon, pas d’effet Macron encore au moment de l’étude (début 2017). Par contre, les Russes eux, ils sont à 67% à avoir confiance. C’est l’effet Poutine, une constante.
– Au Liban, le résultat est sans aucune surprise, seul 15% de la population fait confiance au gouvernement pour entreprendre ce qui est bon pour le pays du Cèdre.
Les Libanais sont donc à la 3e place de la défiance (85%), après les Colombiens et les Péruviens (88%), ex-aequo avec les Chiliens, voisins de palier des Mexicains (83%), riverains des Argentins, des Brésiliens et des Vénézuéliens (71-78%).
Je ne sais pas si c’est à cause de la culture de l’olivier et de l’immigration massive de nos ancêtres vers le nouveau continent au siècle dernier, mais alors pour les Libanais, question confiance dans les gouvernements, c’est direction Amérique du Sud via la Méditerranée.
Ce n’est pas du tout comme ça dans les pays africains de l’étude (Ghana, Sénégal, Kenya, Tanzanie), où la majorité de la population a confiance.
« Dans quelle mesure êtes-vous satisfait de la façon dont la démocratie fonctionne dans votre pays ? »
– Les plus satisfaits du fonctionnement de leur démocratie dans le monde sont les Indiens et les Tanzaniens. Ils le sont à 79%, autant que les Suédoisd’ailleurs.
– Sans la moindre surprise, il faut mettre le cap vers le Nord pour d’autres scores élevés de satisfaction. Les Allemands et les Néerlandais sont entièrement satisfaits (73-77%). Dans les pays anglosaxons, la majorité des gens est très satisfaite aussi.
Les moins satisfaits de ce groupe sont les Américains (46%). (Ca va de soit: quand ce sont les lobbies, with deep pockets, qui font la politiques)
Les plus satisfaits sont les Canadiens (70%), Anglais et Australiens sont entre les deux.
– En Europe du Sud, les Grecs, les Espagnols et les Italiens ne sont pas du tout satisfaits (seulement 21-31% le sont).
– Maintenant à votre avis qui sont les gens les moins satisfaits du fonctionnement de leur démocratie ? (Des lois electorales biaisees pour les riches et la feodalite’)
Un indice : ils bouillonnent de rage car malgré leur attachement à la démocratie, ils ne parviennent pas à obtenir ce qu’ils souhaitent.
Autre indice : ils ont des élections prochainement et une occasion en or pour le faire. Oui, absolument, c’est nous autres Libanais.
Nous ne sommes qu’à peine 8% à trouver que notre démocratie fonctionne bien.
Bienvenue au pays des merveilles, où un Parlement peut être fermé et boycotté pendant des années !
Et qu’est-ce qu’on fait pour améliorer la situation svp?
On réélit ceux qui l’ont fait fonctionné mal, les belles gueules et les beaux parleurs!
Maigre consolation, les Mexicains sont dans un piètre état, ils ne sont satisfaits de leur démocratie qu’à hauteur de 6%.
L’appréciation des différents régimes de gouvernance par différentes populations dans le monde, synthèse complémentaire
– Dans les pays riches où la démocratie est ancrée depuis longtemps et qui fonctionne correctement, les pays occidentaux, les gens sont plus attachés à la démocratie représentative.
– La démocratie directe est évidemment plébiscitée par les partisans des partis populistes.
– Que l’on soit dans les pays riches ou moins riches, au niveau individuel, pour les personnes ayant des niveaux d’éducation et économique plus bas, chez qui les frustrations économique, sociale et politique se cumulent et sont importantes, on a plus tendance à être ouverts à des formes de gouvernance non-démocratiques (experts, dirigeant fort, armée).
– Des scores plus élevés pour les régimes non-démocratiques (technocratie, autocratie, régime militaire), sont plus observés chez les partisans de droite que chez les partisans de gauche.
– La confiance dans le gouvernement et la satisfaction de la démocratie, sont étroitement liées à la situation économique et à la politique intérieure.
– De bons résultats économiques se répercutent sur la confiance dans le gouvernement national, mais aussi sur l’opinion que certains ont de la démocratie.
– Le pays qui détient le plus de records, ou n’en est pas loin, c’est la Suède.
Sur les 12 paramètres, les Suédois sont toujours dans le top le plus haut ou le plus bas, selon les cas et toujours du bon côté.
Il n’y a pas de doute, la démocratie se porte à merveille en Suède. C’est le seul pays au monde, de l’étude, où il y a une majorité nette de 52% de « démocrates engagés », qui appuient un système dans lequel les représentants élus gouvernent mais ne soutiennent pas un régime guidé par les experts, un chef fort ou l’armée.
– Il fait bon de vivre et de s’épanouir aussi dans tous les pays occidentaux, hors ex-pays de l’Est.
Ils restent fortement attacher à la démocratie représentative et très ouverts à la démocratie directe à des degrés différents. Dans tous les pays occidentaux sans exception, la majorité des gens ne confieraient pas leur pays aux experts. Ils rejettent tous sans exception, et massivement, l’idée de l’homme fort qui peut se passer du Parlement et le régime militaire.
Au total, entre 34-52% des Occidentaux sont des « démocrates engagés » (ils appuient un système dans lequel les représentants élus gouvernent mais ne soutiennent pas la technocratie, l’autocratie ou le régime militaire), 34-47% des « démocrates moins engagés » (qui disent qu’une démocratie représentative est bonne mais qui soutiennent aussi au moins une forme non démocratique de gouvernement) et 6-17% des « non-démocrates » (qui ne soutiennent pas la démocratie représentative et soutiennent au moins une forme non démocratique, comme celle des experts, d’un chef fort ou de l’armée).
Par comparaison le profil des Russes est à l’opposé : respectivement 7% – 61% – 22%. Il n’y a que 7% de « démocrates engagés » en Russie, c’est le taux le plus faible du monde.
– La différence notable entre les pays occidentaux, se situe sur le degré de rejet des régimes non-démocratiques.
Pour le régime du dirigeant fort, les pays d’Europe (France, Allemagne, Pays-Bas, Suède, Espagne, Grèce) s’y opposent bien davantage que les pays anglosaxons (Royaume Uni, Etats-Unis, Canada, Australie), respectivement 84-93% et 71-81% trouvent que c’est mauvais. Seule l’Italie fait bande à part (66%). Les plus favorables du camp occidental au régime du dirigeant fort qui se passerait du Parlement sont les Américains, les Anglais et les Italiens (22%, 26% et 29%).
– Pour le régime militaire, les cartes sont mélangées en Occident. 8-11% des Canadiens, Australiens, Néerlandais, Grecs et Espagnols estiment que c’est une bonne gouvernance. Des pourcentages qui passent à 15-17% chez les Français, Américains, Anglais et Italiens. Il n’y a que chez les Allemands et les Suédois que le régime militaire n’est pas légion (4%).
– Sur la confiance dans le gouvernement et la satisfaction de la démocratie, il y a trois camps occidentaux. Allemands, Néerlandais, Suédois et Canadiens ont des scores très élevés (entre 67-71%). Français, Italiens, Espagnols et Grecs, des scores très bas (13-26%). Américains, Anglais et Australiens sont très partagés (48-51%).
– Curieusement, les Américains et les Israéliens ont à peu de choses près, le même profil, sur les 12 paramètres! Je l’ai vérifié à trois reprises! Alliés sur le terrain et dans les chiffres, aussi incroyable que cela puisse paraître : démocrates engagés 40% vs. 36% ; démocrates moins engagés 46% vs. 51% ; non-démocrates 7% vs. 7%, pas plus de 5% de différence. (Israel fut fonde’ par la resolution des USA Evangelical Zionists depuis 1915)
Cela confirme une chose, Israël peut cumuler tous les défauts du monde, violer une quinzaine (45 resolutions en faveur des Palestiniens) de résolutions de l’ONU et piétiner le droit des Palestiniens ad vitam aeternam, et c’est pour cela que je reste favorable à son boycott, il n’empêche que l’Etat hébreux demeure une grande démocratie.
– Il y avait trois pays arabes dans l’étude, le Liban, la Jordanie et la Tunisie, fleuron du Printemps arabe. Le profil des trois populations est très différent.
Mais il ne faut pas oublier que la démocratie n’est pas vraiment bien installée dans ces deux pays. Non loin de là en Turquie, démocratie bien ancrée en dépit de tous les couacs, une petite minorité de la population soutient un régime non-démocratique (12%).
L’appréciation des différents régimes de gouvernance par les Libanais, synthèse complémentaire
– Les Libanais sont dépités par le fonctionnement de leur démocratie et la performance de leurs gouvernements. Mais comme le montre l’étude du Pew Research Center, ils restent très attachés aux formes démocratiques représentative et directe. Ils sont méfiants dans leur majorité des régimes militaire et du dirigeant fort. Une minorité y croit pourtant. Etant donné la qualité de la classe politique qu’ils ont, ils croient massivement qu’un régime d’experts ferait mieux.
– Au total, seuls 18% des Libanais sont des « démocrates engagés » (ils appuient un système dans lequel les représentants élus gouvernent mais ne soutiennent pas un régime guidé par des experts, un chef fort ou l’armée), 68% des « démocrates moins engagés » (qui disent qu’une démocratie représentative est bonne mais qui soutiennent aussi au moins une forme non démocratique de gouvernement) et 13% des « non-démocrates » (qui ne soutiennent pas la démocratie représentative et soutiennent au moins une forme non démocratique, technocratie, autocratie ou régime militaire).
C’est un peu le profil des Hongrois, des Ghanéens et des Philippins. Le profil occidental est totalement différent, respectivement : 34-52% / 34-47% / 5-17%.
– Toutefois, il y a un chiffre qui poussera pas mal de Libanais à bien bomber leur thorax de fierté. Eh bien, figurez-vous, que nous sommes parmi les populations les plus attachées à la démocratie représentative au monde
Les autres populations encore loin derrière: les Italiens à 29% ; les Français c’est à peine à 23% ; les Japonais, Jordaniens et Tunisiens à 22% ; les Mexicains à 9% ; et les Brésiliens, record du monde, juste 8%.
– Peut mieux faire dirait le grec Solon, le père de la démocratie ! La façon de penser des Libanais est globalement rassurante, même s’il y a beaucoup à redire comme je l’ai expliqué dans l’article. Mais alors pourquoi diable le Liban est un pays nase à ce point?
On pourrait même parler de « paradoxe libanais » en politique ! Ce qui fait cruellement défaut au Liban, c’est la présence de la pensée communautaire qui ravage les esprits et le manque d’esprit critique à l’égard de son propre camp, deux tares qui affectent gravement la cohésion nationale et toute notre démocratie. La morosité économique n’arrange pas les choses. Et pour achever tout espoir dans l’avenir, nous avons un paysage politique peuplé de dinosaures, les mêmes dirigeants depuis trop longtemps, qui ne sont vraiment pas à la hauteur et qui ne sont jamais sanctionnés dans les urnes.
– S’il y a deux paramètres qui doivent concentrer tous nos efforts, ce sont ceux portant sur l’amélioration du fonctionnement de notre démocratie et la qualité de l’offre démocratique. Ils se répercuteront forcément et positivement sur les onze autres paramètres. Les périodes électorales constituent d’excellentes occasions pour agir.
Gallup poll: Views of Israeli Actions
Posted by: adonis49 on: July 28, 2014
Gallup poll: Views of Israeli Actions
Troubling Signs for Israel
In New Poll of Americans
Mohamad Al Jabban posted on FB:
Check the difference between men and female, white and non-white, age, and education. Crazy!

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I am trying to find a graph I saw back in 2008 suggesting a decrease of positive view of Israel among academics/grads/post-grads over the years, but I cannot find it, will look for it after the mass today.Solicited, then rejected by The New York Times – Quickly share before it’s taken down!Blumenthal explained how The New York Times commissioned the 11-minute video, but after the paper’s editors saw it, refused to publish it: I was asked to submit something by The New York Times op docs, a new section on the website that published short video documentaries.I am known for short video documentaries about the right wing in the US, and extremism in Israel. They solicited a video from me, and when I didn’t produce it in time, they called me for it, saying they wanted it.So I sent them a video I produced with my colleague, David Sheen, an Israeli journalist who is covering the situation of non-Jewish Africans in Israel more extensively than any journalist in the world.We put together some shocking footage of pogroms against African communities in Tel Aviv, and interviews with human rights activists.I thought it was a well-done documentary about a situation very few Americans were familiar with. We included analysis. We tailored it to their style, and of course it was rejected without an explanation after being solicited.I sent it to some other major websites and they have not even responded to me, when they had often solicited articles from me in the past.Blumenthal, author of the bestselling and widely promoted 2009 book Republican Gomorrah, also spoke about the difficulty he has had getting any mainstream media attention for his new book Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel.Just like this video, Blumenthal’s new book offers an unflinching look at the racist reality of Israel that America’s establishment media simply does not have the guts to confront.Length: 10:55
Troubling Signs for Israel in New Poll of Americans
Support Coalition Shifts — Democrats and Young Split Evenly

Hody Nemes Published this July 24, 2014
Despite overall strong backing from Americans for Israel’s war in Gaza, a new poll includes troubling signs for supporters of the Jewish state.
Democrats, liberals, young people and urban dwellers are all split more or less evenly on the war in the new poll by CNN and ORC International, even though 57% of the public backs Israel.
“Under the surface, we see that the feelings among Democrats and liberals are divided down the middle about whether Israel’s actions are justified,”said Steven M. Cohen, a Jewish sociologist at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
Democrats’ mixed feelings have important ramifications, according to Cohen, and “may bode ill” for Americans’ future support of the Jewish state.
“Democrats and liberals are critical here, because frankly, they’re the people who are running our government,” Cohen said.
But not everyone sees cause for concern — or evidence of a changing support base for Israel.
“I don’t think there’s any fracturing of the [pro-Israel] coalition,” said Mark Mellman, CEO of the Mellman Group, a Democratic-leaning polling firm. He noted that Israel has enjoyed overwhelming backing in both houses of Congress, which have unanimously passed resolutions supporting Israel’s right to defend itself.
The fact that some Democratic voters don’t support the war strikes Mellman as unsurprising, given party loyalists’ strong anti-war bent
“Look, it’s nothing new that Democrats are more questioning of any kind of conflict,” he said. “[They] have a much higher bar for military action.”
The poll shows strong – though not overwhelming – general support for Israel’s military campaign against Hamas. Fifty-seven percent of Americans say the Israel’s operation is justified, while just over a third of Americans (34%) disagree.
Previous wars in Gaza in 2011 and 2008-2009 earned similar levels of support from Americans, with 57% and 63% support respectively.
Less welcome news for Israel can be found in its changing favorability ratings, which have fallen 12 percentage points since February, from 72% to 60% – though only 20% of Americans view the Palestinian Authority favorably.
Additionally, nearly 4 in 10 Americans say Israel is using “too much force” in Gaza. (Force? How about total destruction of infrastructure and people?)
Israel’s general favorability is also lower among Democrats, with 39% of Democrats viewing Israel mostly or very favorably versus 67% of Republicans.
The CNN poll did not present data on Jewish Americans’ opinion of the current conflict, though Cohen suggested that Democrat’s mixed feelings could have ramifications for Jewish opinion, since Democrats are “the people who tend to shape the views of American Jews.”
Mellman disagreed, saying there’s no evidence Jews plan to desert Israel anytime soon.
“There’s really just no way of knowing from these polls,” Mellman said. “[But] I think we can say based on past evidence that the Jewish community lines up pretty solidly behind Israel’s actions.”
A recent study by the Pew Research Center argued that the partisan gap is growing over time.
“[D]ating back to the late 1970s, the partisan gap in Mideast sympathies has never been wider,” the authors wrote.
The widening gap, however, is mostly a product of Republicans’ increasing support, not a loss of Democrats’. Although Republican support for Israel has long been higher than Democrats, it was only in the mid-2000s that the Republican numbers began to really take off.
Some see this widening gap as simply a symptom of the broader polarization of numerous political issues that occurred in America over the last decade or more. “Starting in the early 2000s is where we see an intensification of political polarization on other questions,” said Alec Tyson, a senior researcher for the Pew Research Center.
Evangelicals’ increasing love for Israel may also play a role in the divide.
In the Pew survey, 70% of white Evangelical Protestants said they sympathized more with Israel than the Palestinians, compared to 46% of Catholics, and just 36% of religiously unaffiliated Americans.
Contact Hody Nemes at nemes@forward.com or on Twitter @hodifly
Related
Read more: http://forward.com/articles/202724/troubling-signs-for-israel-in-new-poll-of-american/#ixzz38gIZ5yrT
Ghost and supernatural belief vs racism. And Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Posted by: adonis49 on: May 7, 2014
Ghost, supernatural belief… and racism. And Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said Sunday that white Americans so disregard the ongoing existence of racism that they’re more likely to believe in ghosts.

“More whites believe in ghosts than believe in racism,” Abdul-Jabbar, a former center for the Los Angeles Lakers, told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Sunday.
”That’s why we have shows like Ghostbusters and don’t have shows like Racistbuster. You know, it’s something that’s still part of our culture and people hold on to some of these ideas and practices just out of habit and saying that, well, that’s the way it always was. But things have to change.”

The panel was discussing Donald Sterling, the white billionaire owner of the LA Clippers who was banned for life from the National Basketball Association after a recording of him making racist remarks about blacks was leaked to the media.
The Ghostbusters franchise probably isn’t reflective of Americans’ belief in ghosts any more than comic book movies are reflective of Americans’ belief in superpowers – and “To Catch A Racist” would be a much better name for the kind of show Abdul-Jabar is envisioning than “Racistbuster.” The real question, however, is if Abdul-Jabbar was correct.
It’s hard to know what measures he was using, but a large number of Americans do believe in ghosts – 42%, according to a Harris Poll from late last year.
A Pew survey from 2009 found that 29% of whites believe that they’ve been in touch with a dead person, and 17% believe they’ve actually interacted with a ghost.
Another Pew survey from 2010 showed that whites are far less likely than blacks to believe that there is ongoing discrimination against black Americans, with 88% of blacks saying there was some or a lot of discrimination, and only 57% of whites saying so.
Only 16% of whites said there is “a lot” of discrimination against blacks today, compared to 46% of blacks.
Based on those numbers, more white Americans believe in racism than ghosts. But there is still a significant gap between whites and blacks regarding the influence of racism in American life.
While Abdul-Jabbar’s numbers seem to be off, the general point that whites are more likely to discount racism while blacks see it as an ongoing problem is undoubtedly true.
China published a report: “The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2011”
Posted by: adonis49 on: June 8, 2012
China published a report: “The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2011”
Apparently, China got enough of the exclusive US reports on human rights violations “outside of the US” and produced its own counter attack report.
The State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China published a report titled
“The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2011” on Friday.
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Occupy Seattle protesters, an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement, scuffle with police officers
during a May Day rally and anti-capitalist march in Seattle. Stuart Isett / Bloomberg
II. On civil and political rights
In the United States, the violation of citizens’ civil and political rights is severe.
It is lying to itsel fwhen the United States calls itself the land of the free (The Washington Post,
Jan 14, 2012).
Claiming to defend 99 percent of the US population against the wealthiest,
the Occupy Wall Street protest movement tested the US political, economic and social systems.
Ignited by severe social and economic inequality, uneven distribution of wealth and
high unemployment,the movement expanded to sweep the United States after its inception
in September 2011.
Whatever the deep reasons for the movement are, the single fact that thousands of protesters
were treated in a rude and violent way, with many of them being arrested – the act of willfully trampling on people’ s freedom of assembly, demonstration
and speech – could provide a glimpse to the truth of the so-called US freedom and democracy.
Almost 1,000 people were reportedly arrested in first two weeks of the movement,
according to British and Australian media (The Guardian, Oct 2, 2011).
The New York police arrested more than 700 protesters for alleged blocking traffic
over Brooklyn Bridge on Oct 1, and some ofthem were handcuffed to the bridge
before being shipped by police vehicles(uschinapress.com, Oct 3, 2011).
On Oct 9,92 people were arrested in New York (The NewYork Times, Oct 15, 2011).
The Occupy Wall Street movement was forced out of its encampment at Zuccotti Park
and more than 200 people were arrested on Nov 15 (TheGuardian, Nov 25, 2011).
Chicago police arrested around 300 members of the Occupy Chicago protest in two weeks
(The Herald Sun, Oct 24, 2011).
At least 85 people were arrestedwhen police used teargas and baton rounds to break up
an Occupy Wall Street camp in Oakland, California on Oct 25.
An Iraq war veteran had a fractured skull and brain swellingafter being allegedly hit in the head
by a police projectile (The Guardian, Oct 26, 2011).
Acouple of hundred people were arrested when demonstrations were staged in different
US cities to mark the Occupy Wall Street movement’ s two-month anniversary on Nov 17 (USAToday, Nov 18, 2011).
Among them, at least 276 were arrested in New York only.
A few protesters were bloodied as they were hauled away.
Many protesters accused the police oftreating them in a brutal way (The Wall Street Journal,
Nov 18, 2011).
As a US opinion article put it, the United States could be considered, at least in part,
authoritarian. (The WashingtonPost, Jan 14, 2012).
While advocating press freedom, the United States in fact imposes fairly strict censoring
and control over the press and “press freedom” is just a political tool used to beautify
itself and attack other nations.
The US Congress failed to pass laws on protecting rights of reporters’news sources,
according to media reports. An increasing number of American reporters lost jobs for
“improper remarks on politics.”
US reporter Helen Thomas resigned for critical remarks about Israel in June 2010
“Report: On the situation with human rights in a host of world states,
“the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russia, Dec 28, 2011).
While forcibly evacuating the Zuccotti Park, the original Occupy Wall Street encampment,
the New York police blocked journalists from covering the police actions.
They set cordon lines to prevent reporters fromgetting close to the park and closed
airspace to make aerial photography impossible.
In addition to using pepper spray against reporters, the police also arrested around
200 journalists, including reporters from NPR and the New York Times
(uschinapress.com, Nov 15, 2011).
By trampling on press freedom and public interests, these actions by the US authorities
caused a global uproar.
US mainstream media’ s response to the Occupy Wall Street movement revealed the hypocrisy
in handling issues of freedom and democracy.
Poll by Pew Research Center indicated that in the second week of the movement,
reports on the movement only accounted for 1.68 percent of the total media reports
by nationwide media organizations.
On Oct 15, 2011, when the Occupy Wall Street movement evolved to be a global action,
CNN and Fox News gave no live reports on it, in a sharp contrast to the square protest
in Cairo, for which both CNN and Fox News broadcast live 24 hours.
The US imposes fairly strict restriction on the Internet, and its approach “remains
full of problems and contradictions.”
(The website of the Foreign Policy magazine, Feb 17, 2011)
“Internet freedom” is just an excuse for the United States to impose diplomatic pressure
andseek hegemony.
The US Patriot Act and Homeland Security Act both have clauses about monitoring
the Internet, giving the government or law enforcement organizations power to monitor
and block anyInternet content “harmful to national security.”
Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010 stipulates that the federal
government has “absolute power” to shut down the Internetunder a declared national emergency.
According to a report by British newspaper the Guardian dated Mar 17, 2011,
the US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites
by using fake online personas, and will allow the US military to create a false consensus
in online conversations, crowd out unwelcome opinions and smother commentaries
or reports that do not correspond with its own objectives.
The project aims to control and restrict free speech on the Internet (The Guardian, Mar 17, 2011).
According to a commentaryby the Voice of Russia on Feb 2,2012, a subsidiary under
the US government’ s security agency employed several hundred analysts, who were
tasked with monitoring private archivesof foreign Internet users in a secret way,
and were able to censor as many as 5 million microblogging posts.
The US Department of Homeland Security routinely searched key words like “illegal immigrants,”
“virus,””death,” and “burst out” on Twitter with fake accounts and then secretly traced
the Internet users who forwarded related content.
According to a report by the Globe and Mail on Jan 30,2012, Leigh Van Bryan, a British,
prior to his flight to the US, wrotein a Twitter post, “Free this week,
for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America?”
As aresult, Bryan along with a friend were handcuffed and put in lockdown with
suspected drug smugglers for 12 hours by armed guards after landing in Los Angeles
International Airport, justlike “terrorists”.
Among many angered by the incident in Britain, an Internet user posted a comment, “What’s worse, being arrested for an innocent tweet, or the fact that the American
Secret Service monitors every electronic message in the world?”
The US democracy is increasingly being influenced by capitalization and becoming
a system for”master of money.” Data issued by the US Center for Responsive Politics
in November 2011 show that 46 % of the US federal senators and members
of the House of Representatives have personal assets of more than a million dollars.
That well explains why US administration’ splans to impose higher tax on the rich
who earn more than one million dollars annually have been
blocked in the Congress (www.financeol.com).
As a commentary put it, money hasemerged as the electoral trump card in the US
political system, and corporations have a Supreme Court recognized right to use their
considerable financial muscle to promote candidates and policies favorable to their
business operations and to resist policies and shutout candidates deemed inimical
to their business interests (Online edition of Time, Jan 20, 2011).
According to a media report, nearly two thirds of all the contributions that the chairman
of the House Financial Services Committee received during the 2010 election cycle
came from industries regulated by his committee.
A ranking Democrat Representative on the Agriculture Committee, who served as chairman
between 2007 and 2010, saw a 711% increase in contributions from groups regulated
by his committee and a 274% increase in contributions over all, in the same period
(The New York Times, Nov 16, 2011).
According to aWashington Post report on Aug 10,2011, nearly 8 in 10 of Americans
polled were dissatisfied with the way the political system is working, with 45 %
saying they are very dissatisfied (The Washington Post, Aug 10, 2011).
The US continued to violate the freedom of its citizens in the name of boosting security levels(The Washington Post, Jan 14, 2012).
The Electronic Frontier Foundation in 2011 released areport,”Patterns of Misconduct:
FBI intelligence violations from 2001 to2008,” which reveals that domestic political
intelligence apparatus, spearheaded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation,continues
to systematically violate the rights of American citizens and legal residents.
The report shows that the actual number of violations that may have occurred
from 2001 to 2008 could approach 40,000 possible violations of law,
Executive Order, or other regulations governing intelligence investigations.
The FBI issued some 200,000 requests and that almost 60% were for investigations of
US citizens and legal residents(www.pacificfreepress.com).
The New York Times reported on Oct 20,2011, that the FBI has collected information
about religious, ethnic and national-origin characteristics of American communities
(The New York Times, Oct 20, 2011).
According to a Washington Post commentary dated Jan 14,2012, the US government
can use “national security letters” todemand, without probable cause,
that organizations turn over information on citizens’ finances, communications and
associations, and order searches of everything from business documentsto library records.
The US government can use GPS devices to monitor every move of targeted
citizens without securing any court order or review (The Washington Post, Jan 14, 2012).
Abuse of power, brutal enforcement of law and overuse of force by US police have resulted
in harassment and hurt to a large number of innocent citizens and have caused
loss of freedom of some people or even deaths.
According to a report carried by the World Journal on Jun 10, 2011, the past decade
saw increasing stop and frisks by the New York police, which recorded an annual of
600,000 cases in 2010, almost double of that in 2004.
In the first three months of 2011, some 180,000 people experienced stop-and-frisks, 88 % of whom were innocent people (World Journal, Jun 10, 2011).
In early July of 2011, two police officers beat a mentally ill homeless man to death
in Orange County, Southern California (FoxNews.com, Sept 21, 2011).
In August 2011, North Miami police shot and killed a man carrying realistic toy gun
(TheNY Daily News, Sept 1, 2011).
On Jan 8,2011, a Central California man was shot and killed bythe police, who thought
of him as a gang member only because the jacket he was wearing wasred, “the chosen color of a local street gang.” (www.kolotv.com, Jan 19, 2011)
In May 2011, Arizona’ s police officers raided the home of Jose Guerena and shot
him dead in what was described as an investigation into alleged marijuana trafficking.
However, the police later found nothing illegal in his home (The Huffington Post, May 25, 2011).
Misjudged and wrongly handled cases continued to occur.
According to media reports, Anthony Graves, a Texas man,was imprisoned for 18 years
for crimes he did not commit (CBS News, Jun 22, 2011).
46 year old Thomas Haynesworth spent 27 years in prison after being arrested
at the age of 18 for crimes he didn’t commit (Union Press International, Dec 7, 2011).
Eric Caine, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment after being tortured
by police into confessing totwo murders, spent nearly 25 years behind bars.(Chicago Tribune, Jun 13, 2011).
The US lacks basic due lawsuit process protections, and its government continues
to claim theright to strip citizens of legal protections based on its sole discretion
(The Washington Post, Jan14, 2012).
The National Defense Authorization Act, signed Dec 31,2011, allows for the indefinite detention of citizens (The Washington Post, Jan 14, 2012).
The Act will place domestic terror investigations and interrogations into the hands
of the military and which wouldopen the door for trial free, indefinite detention of anyone,
including American citizens, so long as the government calls them terrorists
(www.forbes.com, Dec 5, 2011).
The US remains the country with the largest “prison population” and the highest
per capita level of imprisonment in the world, and the detention centers’ conditions
are terrible.
According tothe US Department of Justice, the number of prisoners amounted to 2.3 million
in 2009 and one in every 132 American citizens is behind bars.
Meanwhile, more than 140,000 are serving life sentences
(Report: On the situation with human rights in a host of world states, the website of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russia, Dec 28, 2011).
According to a Los Angeles Times reporton May 24,2011, in a California prison,
as many as 54 inmates may share a single toilet and as many as 200 prisoners
may live in a gymnasium (Los Angeles Times, May 24, 2011).
According to data issued by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the estimated number
of prisonand jail inmates experiencing sexual victimization totaled 88,500
in the US between October 2008 and December 2009 (www.bjs.gov).
Since April 2011, officials stopped serving lunch on the weekend in some US prisons
as a way to cut food-service costs. About 23,000 inmates in36 prisons are eating
two meals a day on Saturdays and Sundays instead of three (The NewYork Times, Oct 20, 2011).
Harsh conditions and treatment in prisons have caused recurring protests
and suicides of inmates.
There were two major hunger strikes in California prisons staged by a total of more
than 6,000 and 12,000 prisoners in July and October 2011, respectively,
to protest against what they call harsh treatment and detention conditions (CNN,Oct 4, 2011; The New York Times, July 7, 2011).
According to a Chicago Tribune report on July20,2011, since 2000,
at least 175 youths have attempted to kill themselves inside Departmentof Juvenile Justice
lockup facilities in Chicago and seven youths committed suicide.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture in a 2011 report noted that in the US,
an estimated 20,000 to25,000 individuals are being held in isolation,
and the US government in 2011 for twice turned down the Special Rapporteur’s
request for a private and unmonitored meeting with detainees held in isolation.
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Demonstrators call for justice in the murder of Trayvon Martin atLeimert Park
in Los Angeles on March 22, 2012. Florida Governor Rick Scott appointed a task force
to investigate the shooting death ofunarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin
as calls grew for charges tobe filed against the neighborhood watch volunteer
who killed him. Jonathan Alcorn / Reuters
III. On economic, social and cultural rights
The United States is the world’s richest country, but quite a lot of Americans still lack
guarantee for their economic, social and cultural rights, which are necessary
for personal dignity and self-development.
The United States has not done enough to protect its citizens from unemployment.
At no time in the last 60 years had the country’s long term unemployment
been so high for so long as it was in 2011.
It has been one of the Western developed countries that provide the poorest
protection of laborer’s rights.
It has not approved any international labor organizationconvention in the last 10 years.
Moreover, the US lacks an effective arbitration system to deal with enterprises
that refuse to compromise with employees.
The New York Times reported on Dec 12, 2011, that at last count,13.3 million people
were officially unemployed and that 5.7 million of them
had been out of work for more than six months (The New York Times, Dec 12, 2011).
The unemployment rate was 8.9 percent for 2011 (www.bls.gov), and the unemployment rate
for American youths between 25 and 34 stood at 26 % in October of that year
(TheWorld Journal, Nov 18, 2011), with more underemployed.
A total of 84 metropolitan areasreported jobless rates of at least 10.0%,
and El Centro, California, recorded the highest unemployment rate of 29.6 %
in September of 2011 (www.bls.gov).
The unemployed people suffered from not only financial pressures but also mental pressures
including anxiety and depression.
There is a widening of the gap between the extreme top and bottom (The USA Today, Sept 13, 2011), showing apparent unfair wealth distribution.
The United States claims to have a large population of middle class,
making up 80% of its total population, while there is only very few impoverished
and extremely rich people (The China Press, Oct 13, 2011).
This is not the truth. According to the report issued by the US Congressional Budget Office
(CBO) on Oct 25, 2011, the richest 1% of American families have the fastest growth of family revenue from 1979 to 2007 with an increase of 275 % for after-tax income,
while the after-tax income of the poorest 20 % grew by only 18 % (The World Journal, Oct 26, 2011).
Cable News Network reported on Feb 16,2011, that in the last 20 years, incomes for 90%
of Americans have been stuck in neutral, while the richest 1% of Americans have seen
their incomes grow by 33 %.
Economic Policy Institute published a paper on Oct 26,2011, saying that in 2009
the ratio of wealth owned by the wealthiest 1% to the wealth owned by median households
was 225 to 1 (www.epi.org).
In the United States, thebestoff 10 % made on average 15 times the incomes of
the poorest 10 percent (Reuters,Dec 9, 2011).
The wealthiest 400 Americans have $1.5 trillion in assets (The China Press, Oct13, 2011), or the same combined wealth as the poorest half of Americans – more than 150 million people (www.currydemocrats.org).
The annual incomes of the richest 10 chief executive officers (CEO) were enough
to pay the salary of 18,330 employees (The World Journal, Oct 16, 2011).
Roughly 11% of Congress members had net worth of more than $9 million,
and 249 members were millionaires.
The median net worth:$891,506, was almost nine times the typical household
(The USA Today, Nov 16, 2011).
A commentary by the Spiegel said that theUS has developed into
an economic entity of “winners take all”. American politician Larry Bartels said
that fundamental shifts in wealth allocation was caused by political decisions
rather than the consequences of market forces or financial crisis (The Spiegel, Oct 24, 2011).
Contrary to the wealthiest 10 percent, the number of Americans living in poverty
and the poverty rate continued to hit record highs, which is a great irony in affluent America.
A report published by the Census Bureau on Sept 13, 2011, showed that 46.2 million people
lived belowthe official poverty line in 2010, 2.6 million more than 2009,
hitting the highest record since 1959.
The report also said that the percentage of American who lived below the poverty line
in 2010 was 15.1 percent, the highest level since 1993.
An analysis done by the BrookingsInstitution estimated that at the current rate,
the recession would have added nearly 10 million people to the ranks of the poor
by the middle of the decade. According to the analysis, 22% of children
were in poverty (The New York Times, Sept 13, 2011).
Another survey showed that 12 states of the US had poverty rates above 17 percent,
with Mississippi’s poverty rate standing at 22.4 percent (The Huffington Post, Oct 21, 2011).
The US has grown into acountry dependent on food stamps (Reuters, Aug 22, 2011).
The percentage of Americans who did not have enough money to buy food grew
from 9 percent in 2008 to 19 percent in 2011 (The World Journal, Oct 15, 2011).
In 2010,17.2 million households, or 14.5 percent, werefood insecure (www. Worldhunger. org).
In 2011, 46 million Americans lived on food stamps, about 15 percent
of the total population, up 74 % from 2007 (Reuters, Aug 22, 2011).
Millions of homeless people wandered around streets.
Reports said that about 2.3 million to 3.5 million Americans did not have a place
that they call home to sleep in the night(www.homelessnessinamerica.com).
Between 2007 and 2010, the number of homeless families grew by 20 percent
(The Huffington Post, Aug 26, 2011).
Over the past five years, thepercentage of singles arriving at shelters
after living with family or elsewhere in the community has jumped
from 39 percent to 66 percent (The USA Today, Dec 9, 2011).
There was an all time record of more than 41,000 homeless people in New York City,
including 17,000 homeless children (www.coalitionforthehomeless.org).
On any given night in Santa Clara County,California, 7,045 people were homeless
according to a 2011 Santa Clara County Homeless Census and Survey (www.santaclaraweekly.com).
And advocates estimated that Chicago hadup to 3,000 homeless youths
in need of shelter on any given night(www.chicagonewscoop.org).
The US declared it has the best healthcare service in the world, but quite a lot of
Americans could not enjoy due medication and healthcare.
The Cable News Network reported on Sept 13,2011, that the number of people
who lacked health insurance in 2010 climbed to 49.9 million (Cable News Network, Sept 13, 2011).
Bloomberg reported on March 16,2011, that 9 million Americans have lost
health insurance during the past two years.
An additional 73 million adults had difficulties paying for healthcare and 75 million
deferred treatment because they could not afford it (Bloomberg, March 16, 2011).
Death and infection risks caused by AIDS grew.
Since the first American patient was diagnosed with AIDS in 1981,600,000 people
have died from the disease in the US By the end of 2008, 1,178,350 Americans had been infected with AIDS (The China Press, June 3, 2011).
AFP reported that nearly three quarters of Americans with HIV do not have
their infection undercontrol and one in five people with human immuno-deficiency virus
are unaware that they havethe disease.
Among people who know their HIV status is positive, only 51 percent get ongoing
medical treatment (AFP, Nov 29, 2011).
Statistics given by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed that,
in the last 10 years, death caused by prescription drugs in America had doubled
and that one would die from taking prescription drug every 14 minutes.
Prescription drug overdose caused 37,485 deaths in 2009, exceeding traffic fatalities
(TheChina Press, Sept 19, 2011).
The US government has significantly cut the expense on education, reduced teaching staff,
and shortened school hours with tuition fees soaring.
The guarantee for teenagers’ rights to education is weakening.
The New York Times reported on Oct 3,2011, that since 2007, school budgets in
New York city have been cut by 13.7% every year on average.
Since 2008, 294,000 posts in the American education industry, including schools
of higher education, have been cut (The China Press, Oct 25, 2011).
Four day per week classes have been practiced in 292 school districts,
which was only put into use during the financial crisis in the 1930s and
the oil crisis in the 1970s (The World Journal, Oct 30, 2011).
A report by College Board showedthat the average tuition fee of American
four year public universities in the school year of 2011through 2012 was $8,244, $631 more than the last school year, up 8.3 percent (The ChinaPress, Oct 27, 2011).
About 3,000 people gathered on Sproul Plaza to protest tuition increasesat Berkeley on Nov 9, 2011 (The New York Times, Nov 13, 2011).
Reuters reported that twothirds of undergraduate students would graduate
with student loans about $25,000 on average owing to expensive college tuition
(Reuters, Feb 1, 2011).
Native American culture in the United States has long been suppressed.
The country assimilated the Native American culture through legislation
and mainstream culture.
At the endof the 19th century, the United States carried out “white man’s education”
and implemented compulsory English-only education.
Most of the people who now speak Native American languages are the seniors living
in reservations. It is estimated that only 5% of Native Americans
will speak their own languages 50 years later if there are no measures
from the US government.
The financial crisis was far from being the sole reason for the inadequate guarantee
of Americans’ economic, social and cultural rights. So far, the US has not approved
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The above problems concerning human rights are the reflection of the US ideology
and political system that ignore people’s economic, social and cultural rights.
IV. On racial discrimination
Ethnic minorities in the United States have long been suffering systemic,
widespread and institutional discrimination. And racial discrimination has become
an indelible characteristic and symbol of American values.
Ethnic minorities have low political, economic and social positions due to discrimination.
The number of ethnic people in civil service is not proportional to their population.
New York Times reported on June 23,2011, that the number of Asian Americans
in New York City has topped one million, nearly 1 in 8 New Yorkers,
but only one Asian-American serves in the State Legislature, two on the City Council
and one in a citywide post of the New York City.
Accordingto the annual report released by the National Urban League of the US,
African-Americans’ 2011 Equality Index is currently 71.5 %, compared to 2010’s 72.1%,
among which thee conomic equality index declined from 57.9 percent to 56.9%,
and the health index, from 76.6 percent to 75 %, and the index in the area of social justice,
from 57.9 % to 56.9 %.
Ethnic Americans are badly discriminated against when it comes to employment.
It was reported that the unemployment rate of Hispanics rose to 11 percent in 2010
from 5.7 % in 2007 (The New York Times, Sept 28, 2011).
The unemployment rate of African Americans was 16.2%.
For black males, it’s at 17.5 percent; and for black youth, it’s nearly 41 %,
4.5 times the national average unemployment rate (CBS News, June 19, 2011).
Nationally, black joblessness stands at 21%, rising to as high as 40% in major urban centers
such as Detroit (The Wall Street Journal, Aug 31, 2011).
In Ziebach County of South Dakota, acommunity mainly composed of Native Americans,
more than 60% of the residents live at or below the poverty line,
and unemployment rate hits 90% in the winter (The Daily Mail,Feb 15, 2011).
A study shows that of the seven occupations with the highest salaries,
six are over represented by whites (Washington Post, Oct 21, 2011).
The poverty rate of African Americans doubles that of whites, and the ethnic minority
groups suffer severe social inequalities. According to a report by the Pew Research Center
released inJune 2011, the median wealth of white households is 20 times
that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households (pewresearch.org).
In 2010, poverty among blacks rose to 27.4 percent, and poverty among Hispanics increased
to 26.6 percent, much higher than the9.9% poverty rate among whites (www.census.gov).
A Pew Research Center report says the lopsided wealth ratios among whites,
Hispanics and AfricanAmericans in 2009 were thelargest in the past 25 years (pewresearch.org).
According to an investigation done by the Washington-based Bread for the World, “black children are suffering from poverty at a rate ofnearly 40 %, and
over a quarter of Blacks reported going hungry in 2010”. “The figures are both startling and very telling,” said Rev Derrick Boykin (www.amsterdam.com).
Ethnic minorities are denied equal education opportunities, and ethnic minority kids
are discriminated against and bullied in schools.
According to a report by the US Census Bureauon June 8, 2011, in 2008, among 18-to 24-year-olds, 22 % were not enrolled in highschools for Hispanics, 13 % for African Americans, whereas only 6 percent for whites(www.census.gov).
US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said on Oct 28,2011, one third of American students
are bullied at schools, and Asian-American children bear the brunt.
The teases and insults they get in cyber space are three times more compared
with kids from other ethnic groups.
A research finds 54 percent of Asian-American students have been bullied in schools, 38.4 % for African-Americans and 34.3% for Hispanics (World Journal Oct29, 2011).
Ethnic minorities and nonChristians are also badly discriminated against in fields
such as law enforcement, justice and religion, rendering the so claimed ethnic equality
and religious freedom nothing but self-glorifying forged labels.
A New York Times story (Dec 17,2011) saysthe New York Police Department
recorded more than 600,000 stops in 2010 and 84 percent of those stopped
were blacks or Latinos. It was reported that black non-Hispanic males are incarcerated
at a rate more than six times that of white non-Hispanic males
(World Report2011: United States, www.hrw.org).
On Dec 1,2011, the American Civil Liberties Union said that”the FBI is using
its extensive community outreach to Muslims and other groups to secretly
gather intelligence in violation of federal law”. (Washington Post, Dec 2, 2011)
A survey by Pew Research Center finds that 52 percent of Muslim Americans surveyed
said their group is undergovernment’s surveillance, about 28 %said they had been treated
or viewed withsuspicion and 21 % said they were singled out by airport security
(articles.boston.com).
More than half of Muslim-Americans in another poll said government anti-terrorism policies singled them out for increased surveillance and monitoring, and many reported
increased cases of name-calling, threats and harassment by airport security,
law enforcement officers and others (Washington Times, Aug 30, 2011).
Illegal immigrants also live under legal and systematic discrimination.
It was reported that afterArizona passed its anti illegal immigration bill, Alabama began
implementing its immigration law on Sept 28, 2011.
The Alabama immigration law provides differentiated treatments to illegal immigrants
in each of its term, rendering their daily lives rather difficult.
Critics argued that thelaw runs counter to the US Constitution and to certain terms
in relevant international human rights law regarding granting equal protections
to illegal immigrants (www.hrw.org).
The NewYork Times reported on May 13, 2011, that Georgia passed an anti-illegal immigration law which outlaws illegal immigrants working in the state
and empowers local police officers to question certain suspects about their immigration status.
Illegal immigrants suffer ferocious mistreatments.
Internal reports from the Office of Detention Oversight of the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) revealed grave problems in many US detention facilities
for immigrants, including lack of medical care, the use of excessive force and
“abusive treatment”of detainees (The Houston Chronicle, Oct 10, 2011).
A report released on Sept 21, 2011, by an Arizona-based nonprofit organization
revealed that thousands of illegal immigrants detained across the border between
Mexico and Arizona are generally mistreated by US borderpolice, being denied enough food,
water, medical care and sleep, even beaten up and confined in extreme coldness or heat,
suffering both psychological abuse and threats of death
(TheWorld Journal, Sept 24, 2011).
Native Americans are denied their due rights.
From January to February 2011, UN Special Rapporteur James Anaya
lodged two accusations against the United States, including accusing
the Arizona State government of approving the use of recycled wastewater
for commercial ski operations on the San Francisco Peaks, a site considered sacred
by several Native American tribes (www.forgottennavajopeople.org),
as well as the case of imprisoned indigenous activist Leonard Peltier.
Peltier was sentenced to life in prison in 1977 for the alleged murder of two FBIagents.
However, Peltier has been claiming he is innocent and persecuted by the USgovernment
for participating in the American Indian Movement (www.ohchr.org).
On April 26, 2011, Farida Shaheed, independent expert in the field of cultural rights,
Heiner Bielefeldt, special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief,
and James Anaya, special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples,
of the UN Human Rights Council, jointly lodged accusations against the US,
claiming that the city of Vallejo, California, is planning to level and pave
over the Sogorea Te, held sacred to indigenous people in northern California,
in order to construct a parking lot and public restrooms (www.treatycouncil.org).
Race-motivated hate crimes occur frequently. According to an FBI report, 6,628 hate crime incidents were reported in 2010, 2,201 of which were against African-Americans
and 534 against Hispanics and 575 against whites.
About 47.3 % of all were motivated by racial bias, 20% by religion and 12.8 % by
an ethnicity/national origin bias (ww.fbi.gov).
Accordingto a report released by the Center for American Progress in August 2011,
seven American charitable groups, over the past decade, had spent 42.6 million US dollars
on inciting hatred against Muslim communities (The New York Times, Nov 13, 2011).
There are three active white supremacy groups in the city of San Francisco,
which focus on attacking ethnic minorities andimmigrants (www.abclocal.go.com).
On Nov 10,2010, two Mexican nationals were beaten by agroup of whites
who were members of these organizations (www.sfappeal.com).
According to aninvestigation, black men aged 15 to 29 years old were most likely
to be victims of murders.
In New York City, they make up less than 3 percent of the city’s population but in 2010
represented 33 percent of all homicide victims (The Wall Street Journal, March 9, 2011).
The sufferings of civil rights activists who oppose racial discriminations arouse attention.
The Huffington Post reported on May 31,2011, Catrina Wallace,
a civil rights activist in Jena, Louisiana, was sentenced to 15 years in prison
by authorities only based on a drug dealer’saccusation.
Previously, Wallace had taken part in organizing a 50,000-people protest against racial discrimination that won freedom for six black high school students.
The article deemed the sentence was revenge taken by authorities
on Wallace’s human rights activism. “I am a freedom fighter. I fight for people’s rights.”
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Yang Ting Lye (left) and Amy Huang hug at an impromptu memorial oncampus for the two graduate students from China, Qu Ming of Jilin andWu Ying of Hunan, who were shot dead near the University ofSouthern California in Los Angeles on April 11, 2012. Jonathan Alcorn /Reuters
V. On the rights of women and children
To date, the US has ratified neither the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, nor the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
As the USneglects the rights of women and children, their situation deteriorates.
Gender discrimination against women widely exists in the US. According to statistics,
women arenot fully represented in governments at all levels in the US, as women hold
only 17 % ofthe seats in Congress (www.wcffoundation.org).
Women doing the same work as men often getless payment in the US, and the wage gap has
narrowed by only 18 cents in the past halfcentury (www.thedailybeast.com).
According to a report released by the American Civil LibertiesUnion, in 2009,
women working full-time, year-round were paid 77 cents on average for
everydollar paid to men (www.aclu.org).
Women in the US widely suffer discrimination in terms ofemployment, promotion and work.
A new study confirms that American tech companies arewoefully behind in including women
among their board members and highest-paid executives.
On average, fewer than one in 28 of the highestpaid tech executives is a woman.
AtCalifornia’s biggest public companies, only about 10% of the board members and
top executives are women (The New York Times, Dec 9, 2011).
The poverty rate among American women reached a record high.
According to data from theUS Census Bureau, over 17 million women lived in poverty in 2010,
including more than 7.5million in extreme poverty and 4.7 million single mothers in poverty.
The poverty rate amongwomen climbed to 14.5 percent in 2010 from 13.9 percent in 2009,
the highest in 17 years.
Theextreme poverty rate among women climbed to 6.3 % in 2010 from 5.9% in 2009,
the highest rate ever recorded (www.merchantcircle.com).
According to a report of theAssociated Press on April 12,2011, a single mother named
Lashanda Armstrong drove herfour kids in a minivan into the Hudson river in Newburgh,
New York, due to the unbearableburden of raising the kids. Only her 10-year-old boy survived.
Women in the US often experience discrimination, violence and sexual assault.
Ethnic minoritywomen face discrimination during pregnancy.
According to a report provided by the LAMB (TheLos Angeles Mommy and Baby Project), 32.4 percent of Asian-American mothers feltdiscriminated against during pregnancy, second only to African-American mothers amongwhom the ratio amounts to 47.9%, while the ratio
among Latin American mothers is 31.1% (The China Press, June 1, 2011).
According to statistics from the website of the LosAngeles Police Department,
more than 2 million American women are victims of domesticviolence annually.
The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey shows nearly one in 5 women
has been raped in her lifetime, and one in four has experienced serious physical violence
from an intimate partner at some point in her life (Los Angeles Times, December 14, 2011).
Throughout the military, sexual assault affects about 19 percent of female troops
but most of them choose to keep silent, according to a survey of sexual assault
conducted by theUS military (www.csmonitor.com).
From March to October in 2011, a string of 20 sexual assaultshappened in Bay Ridge,
Sunset Park and Park Slope and the victims were all young women
(The New York Times, Oct 19, 2011).
Reports say many of the 1 million women in prison in theUS experienced harsh treatment
and even had their arms and legs chained when they weregiving birth (www.globalissues.org).
The poverty rate for children in the US reached a record high.
According to the report releasedby the US Census Bureau, more than 1 million children
were added to the poverty populationbetween 2009 and 2010, making the total number
of children living below the poverty line reachmore than 15 million, the greatest since 2001.
The poverty rate for children in 2010 climbed to21.6 percent in 2010 from 20 percent in 2009,
with 653 counties seeing a significant increasein poverty rate for children aged 5 to 17
and about one-third of counties having school age poverty rates
above the national poverty rate (www.census.gov).
The Daily Mail reported onAug 17, 2011, that child poverty increased in 38 states from 2000 to 2009 and Mississippi is
the state with the highest level of 31 percent.
The US Census Bureau said that children living inpoverty, especially small children,
are more likely to develop cognitive and behavioraldifficulties and may have
a shorter education time and a longer time being unemployed whenthey grow up
(The China Press, Nov 21, 2011).
The number of homeless children has surged.
In 2010,1.6 million children in the US were livingon the street, in homeless shelters
or motels, up 33 percent from that in 2007, according to the National Center on Family
Homelessness (USA Today, Dec 15, 2011).
According to theEducation Department of New York, there are 53,503 homeless students
and children of 3 to21 years old in New York, and the Homeless Service Department’s
count also shows anaverage of 6,902 children of 6 to 17 years old a month are homeless
in the city (The New YorkTimes, Nov 14, 2011).
Nearly 17,000 children slept in the municipal shelters in New York onHalloween night in 2011.
From May 2011 to November 2011, children in shelters rose 10 percent
(The Wall Street Journal, Nov 9, 2011).
Children are severely exposed to violence and pornography.
BBC reported on Oct 17,2011,that over the past 10 years, more than 20,000 American children
were believed to have beenkilled by their family members.
More than 1 million children are confirmed each year as victimsof child abuse
(www.preventchildabuse.org), and one in every two families in the US is involved in domestic violence at some time (www. reverepolice.org).
The Wall Street Journal reported onNov 14, 2011, that roughly 120,000 calls
were made to the state hotline for child abuse callsadministrated by the state
Department of Public Welfare in Pennsylvania, but only about24,000 cases were investigated.
A 13-year-old boy named Christian Choate was allegedlybeaten to death in 2009 by his father.
The report said prosecutors had alleged that the boyendured beating daily and was kept locked
in a 3-foot-high dog cage, where he had little to eat and often soiled himself
(Chicago Tribune, June 24, 2011).
Campus violence and cyberbullying are growing more malicious in the US.
According to a report of the US News & WorldReport on June 3, 2011, at least 40%
of high school students have been bullied by cyberbullies (www.usnews.com).
The Women’s eNews reported on May 23 last year, the sex-trafficking problem is acute
in the state of Georgia, with an estimated 250 to 300 underageteens and girls being sexually
exploited each month there (womensenews. org).
According to areport published by Stanford University, the number of reports of sexual assaults
received in itscampus in 2010 rose by 75 percent over that in 2009 (CBS, Sept 30, 2011).
Infant mortality rate remains high in the US.
According to a report of The New York Times onOct 15, 2011, the infant mortality rate in the US is 6.7 deaths per 1,000 live births.
The rate among AfricanAmericans is 13.3 deaths per thousand, while the rates among whites,
Hispanics and Asian-Americans are respectively 5.6, 5.5 and 4.8 per thousand.
In Pittsburgh, the infant mortality rate for black residents of Allegheny County
was 20.7 per thousand in 2009, while therate among whites in the county was only
4 per thousand in the same period.
Nationally, blackbabies are more than twice as likely as white babies to die before the age of 1.
VI. On US violations of human rights against other nations
The US has been pursuing hegemony in the world, grossly trampling upon the sovereignty
of other countries and capriciously violating human rights against other nations.
It “appears moreand more to be contributing to international disorder”
(After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order, by Emmanuel Todd).
The revelation of the history of human experiments conducted in the US is yet another
scandal sparking public outcry around the world after the prisoner abuse scandal.
The Britishnewspaper The Telegraph reported on Aug 30, 2011, that from 1946 1948, a US government-paid medical experiment program had made
nearly 5,500 people in Guatemala subjected todiagnostic testing, and the researchers
deliberately exposed more than 1,300 people, includingsoldiers, prostitutes, prisoners
and mental patients, to syphilis and other venereal diseases.
Seven women with epilepsy were injected with syphilis below the back of the skull,
and a femalesyphilis patient with a terminal illness was infected with gonorrhea in her eyes
and elsewhere.
These experiments had caused over 80 deaths.
An article on a USbased journalistic websitesaid that “these revelations are only the latest
in an ongoing series of scandals regardinggovernment illegal and unethical experimentation”
and that “there are plenty of other underreported and important stories out there on the
terrible scandal that has been US illegal experimentation. “The article said that the list of such illegal experiments is quite long, including
government radiation experiments, human mind control (also known as MKULTRA)
experiments and the CIA and DoD (Department of Defense) experiments on
“enemy combatants” in the “waron terror” (Pubrecord.org).
Newspaper The Hindu reported on Aug 30,2011, that in 1932, the US public health
service agency started a study of untreated syphilis in the human body inAlabama.
The researchers told the subjects that they were being treated for some ailments,
and nearly 400 African-American men were infected with syphilis without informed consent.
Infact, the men infected did not receive proper treatment needed.
The study lasted until 1972after media disclosures.
Austrian national TV commented that this was a disgraceful event inthe US history
and a dark period in US medical ethics.
The US-led wars, albeit alleged to be “humanitarian intervention” efforts and for “the rise of a
new democratic nation”, created humanitarian disasters instead.
For Iraqis, the death toll in theUS-initiated Iraq war stands at 655,000 (Tribune Business News, Dec 15, 2011).
According to figures released by the Iraq Body Count, at least 103,536 civilians were killed
in the Iraq war(Reuters, Dec 18, 2011).
In 2011, there were an average of 6.5 deaths per day from suicide attacks and
vehicle bombs (www.iraqbodycount.org).
It is estimated that civilian casualties inthe military campaign in Afghanistan could
exceed 31,000 (Tribune Business News, Oct 17, 2011).
According to a news report, on May 28, 2011, a US-led NATO airstrike killed 14 civilians
and wounded six others in the southern region of Afghanistan (The New York Times, May 29, 2011).
Separately, on May 25, a total of 18 Afghan civilians and 20 police were killed
in a NATO airstrike in the province of Nuristan (BBC News, May 29, 2011).
The British newspaper TheGuardian reported on March 11, 2012, that an American soldier
stationed in Afghanistan burst into three civilian homes in two villages in the small
hours of March 11, shot dead 16 sleeping Afghan villagers, injured five others and
burned the dead bodies.
The victims included ninechildren and three women.
According to a Reuters report, witness accounts said there wereseveral US soldiers
involved (Reuters, March 11, 2012).
Another Deutsche Presse Agent report quoted a member of the Afghan parliamentary
investigative team as saying that therewere 15 to 20 soldiers who had conducted
the night raid operation in several areas in thevillage.
The source also told DPA that some of the Afghan women who were killed were
sexually assaulted, according to the findings (DPA, March 18, 2012).
Such “American style massacre” against innocent civilians has once again pierced
the veil of the US proclaiming itself “a country under the rule of law” and
“a human rights defender.”
Incomplete statistics revealed that the US has launched more than 60 drone attacks
in Pakistan in 2011, killing at least 378 people (USAToday, Jan 11, 2012; Newamerica.net).
The number of civilian deaths in Afghanistan increased15 percent in the first half
of 2011 over the same period of 2010 (The New York Times, Aug 6, 2011).
According to media reports, on the night of Feb 20,2012, some American soldiers
of the NATO troops at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan transported copies of Koran
and other religious books to a rubbish pit and burned them (BBC News, Feb 23, 2012).
The acts ofdesecration of the Quran have sparked strong protests and large-scale demonstration
activities among the people across Afghanistan as well as in the countries of Pakistan
and Bengal (www.pakistantoday.com.pk; www.firstpost.com).
The US does not support the right to development, which is a concern of most of the
developing countries. In September 2011, the 18th session of the United Nations Human Rights
Council adopted a resolution on “the right to development.”
Except for an abstention vote fromthe US, all the HRC members voted for the resolution.
The US continues its conduct that seriously violates the right of subsistence and right
of development of Cuban people. On Oct 26, 2011, the 66th session of the UN General Assembly
overwhelmingly adopted a resolution titled “Necessity of ending the economic,
commercial andfinancial embargo imposed by the United States of America
against Cuba,” the 20th suchresolution in a row.
A total of 186 countries voted in favor of the resolution, three countries abstained,
and only the US and Israel voted against the resolution.
The resolution urged theUS to repeal or invalidate the almost 50-year-long economic,
commercial and financial embargoagainst Cuba as soon as possible (www.un.org).
The US, however, continues to defy theresolution.
The blockade imposed by the US against Cuba qualifies as an act of genocide under
Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,
which was adopted in 1948.
The above mentioned facts are but a small yet illustrative enough fraction of the
US’ dismal record on its human rights situation.
The US’ own tarnished human rights record has made it inno condition, on a moral,
political or legal basis, to act as the world’s “human rights justice,”
to place itself above other countries and release the Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices year after year to accuse and blame other countries.
We hereby advise the US government once again to look squarely at its own grave
human rights problems, to stop the unpopular practices of taking
human rights as a political instrument for interference in other countries
‘internal affairs, smearing other nations’ images and seeking its own strategic interests,
and to cease using double standards on human rights and pursuing hegemony under
the pretext of human rights.” End of Report
It would be great for a researcher comparing the Human Rights violations between the two reports (USA and China) to divide by the rate of the populations in the two countries. There are the other two difficulties, the kinds of sources that the US relied upon, and that China got out of the wilderness in 1980…
Note: The text published by China Daily 05/26/2012 was not amenable to editing. I did my best at several cuts. If you can adequately edit this article, please send me a link and will post your version instead.